Moderna
Moderna, Inc. is an American biotechnology company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts focused on drug discovery and drug development based on messenger RNA (mRNA). The company is attempting to create synthetic mRNA for injection into patients to help them create their own therapies (rather than being created externally and then injected, per conventential vaccines); a technique that was abandoned by pharmaceutical companies unable to overcome the dangerous side-effects of getting RNA into cells,and as of May 14, 2020, no mRNA vaccine has ever been approved for use in humans
In December 2018, Moderna became the largest biotech initial public offering (IPO) in history, raising $600 million for 8% of the company, implying an overall valuation of $7.5 billion. The company has a reputation for secrecy and little of its work has ever been published or peer-reviewed and validated.[3][4] In May 2020, Moderna was valued at $30 billion but none of its products reached final phase clinical trials, received approval by the FDA, or been sold on the market
Moderna was founded in 2010 with the name "ModeRNA". It was based on Harvard University research by Derrick Rossi, who had developed a method for modifying mRNA, transfecting it into human cells, "dedifferentiating" mRNA into stem cells, which then differentiated into the desired cell types. Rossi then approached fellow Harvard faculty member, Tim Springer – who became the first investor of Moderna – and Kenneth R. Chien, and Bob Langer as cofounders, followed by a meeting with Noubar Afeyan, CEO of Flagship Ventures, to capitalize the new company. After further validating experiments conducted in Rossi's lab, the company began operations led by Stéphane Bancel as CEO in 2011.[
In March 2013, Moderna and AstraZeneca signed a five-year exclusive option agreement to discover, develop and commercialize mRNA therapeutics for the treatment of cardiovascular, metabolic and renal diseases, and selected targets for cancer.The agreement included a $240 million upfront payment to Moderna, a payment that was "one of the largest ever initial payments in a pharmaceutical industry licensing deal that does not involve a drug already being tested in clinical trials".
In January 2014, Moderna and Alexion Pharmaceuticals entered a $125 million deal for orphan diseases. Alexion paid Moderna $100 million for 10 product options to develop rare-disease drugs using Moderna's mRNA Therapeutics platform.
In January 2016, Moderna announced the start of Phase 1 clinical studies in Europe for mRNA 1440 and filed an IND with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for development of mRNA vaccines against infectious diseases.[15]
In September 2018, Thrillist published an article that was critical of the company titled, "Why This Secretive Tech Start-Up Could Be The Next Theranos", raising concerns about its reputation for secrecy and the absence of scientific validation or independent peer-review of its research, despite having the highest valuation of any U.S. private biotech at over $5 billion. A former Moderna scientist was interviewed saying, "It's a case of the emperor's new clothes. They're running an investment firm, and then hopefully it also develops a drug that's successful".
In December 2018, Moderna became the largest biotech initial public offering in history, raising $621 million (27 million shares at $23 per share) on the NASDAQ, and implying an overall valuation of $7.5 billion for the entire company; its ticker was MRNA
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